Dear jerks, stop wrecking the ARTpath River Trail art

Lansing Art Gallery's Katrina Daniels talks about the kickoff of ARTpath Friday June 8. It's an exhibit along a 3.5 mile stretch of the Grand River.
Judy Putnam, Lansing State Journal

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There were 10 art installations for the inaugural ARTpath event along the Lansing River Trail. Two were damaged by vandals. This is the only sign left of seven portraits of military veterans at one installation that artist Gigi Morton hung on the east side of the Grand River beneath the Interstate-496 overpass. She is trying to raise funds to have them reprinted.(Photo: Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal)Buy Photo

We had ARTpath, a gorgeous summer art project along a 3 ½ mile stretch of the River Trail just a short time before you damaged two of the 10 exhibits.

It’s just plain wrong to destroy art that enlivens dreary, dark spots under bridges, puts needed focus on the underappreciated River Trail and adds to a Lansing summer that is uniquely ours.

The ARTpath project, launched June 8, is popular. An estimated 250 people turned out for its kickoff. The art is cool, provocative and created by Michigan artists. It’s a good idea that could continue into the future. It makes art accessible.

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Jim Mathews, left, helps Lansing artist Gigi Morton down an embankment on the Grand River beneath the Interstate-496 overpass, Thursday, May 31, 2018, so she could help her son Caleb Kisor, right, affix one of 10 photographs of veterans she met in San Franscisco at the American Legion War Memorial Commission last year. Her project is called "The Forgotten Ones...The Vets of..." She is one of 10 ARTpath artists showing work along a 3 1/2 mile stretch of the Grand River.(Photo: MATTHEW DAE SMITH/Lansing State Journal)

Within a few days, though, you pulled down seven of the 10 Gigi Morton photographic portraits of military veterans and Kate Cosgrove's lacy vinyl cutouts. Both are planning to reinstall them, thankfully.

Morton, who lives in Dimondale, doesn’t call you jerks. She forgives you. She said she knew the risks.

“This whole thing for me as an artist has been a beautiful experience. I was saddened, not surprised, and saw the blessing almost immediately,” she said about your vandalism.

Morton is raising $700 on GoFundMe to reprint the photos and reinstall them in such a way that you will have a hard time reaching them.

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From left, artist Gigi Morton of Lansing, her son Caleb Kisor, and Jim Mathews, affix photographs to beams beneath the I-496 overpass, Thursday, May 31, 2018. Morton is putting 10 4-by-5-foot photographs of veterans she met in San Francisco at the American Legion War Memorial Commission last year. She said her project "The Forgotten Ones...The Vets of..." is her aim to bring more recognition to veterans. She is one of 10 ARTpath artists showing work along a 3.5 mile stretch of the Grand River.(Photo: MATTHEW DAE SMITH/Lansing State Journal)

Reinstalling the vinyl portraits from the Grand River using a boat, as opposed to columns closer to the river bank, will give the images a different feel. The veterans, who once protected us, will stand guard again, she said.

Kate Cosgrove, of Lansing also wants to focus on the positive. She said her friend, Jessica Fowler, running the River Trail stopped one of you, a young vandal.

She was able to recover the art before it was seriously damaged. It can be repaired and put up in a sturdier way under the Oakland Street bridge.

“She’s kind of my hero,” Cosgrove said in an email.

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Lansing is featured on the mitten on May 31, 2018 in a detail of Lansing muralist Tea Brown's artwork under the Shiawassee Street Bridge. She's one of 10 artists featured in ARTpath.(Photo: Judy Putnam/Lansing State Journal)

“These unfortunate incidents can be difficult to understand," she wrote. "We are working to ward off further attempts to alter or destroy the artwork. Gigi and Kate have been an inspiration with their positivity and resilience."

So next time, go out and create. Don’t destroy.

Your actions steal from all of us, including yourselves.

Sincerely,

Lansing area residents

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam